Smile Like You Mean It (Charlotte Reynolds Book 1)

by Willow Hadley

  Liam smiles softly and squeezes my hand. “You’re not an idiot. And I swear there’s no reason to be nervous. When I come here, I’m here to work on myself for me. Don’t worry about all of these other people. Just focus on you and the goals you set for yourself. I’ll always help you with anything if I’m here, and I’ll never let anyone mess with you.” When I smile shyly at him, he blushes and quickly adds, “And the other guys will help you too, of course.”

  I squeeze his hand back and sigh quietly. He really has made me feel better. I’m still not entirely free of my nerves, but it’s nice to be reminded that the boys have my back. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Sebastian

  “I swear to god, I’m going to fucking kill him!” I grit my teeth and keep my eyes locked on Liam and Charlotte as I walk with Grayson to the room we usually train in.

  Grayson shakes his head at me and asks, “Why? Because he asked Charlotte what her last name is? You’re being fucking ridiculous, Seb.”

  My cheeks burn in embarrassment and I finally tear my eyes away from Charlotte. Every time someone calls her my step-cousin or insinuates that we’re related, I want to fucking throw up. I feel like Arthur has been watching me way more closely ever since he gave me that stupid ass lecture about not being able to date Charlotte. I’m terrified to touch her whenever he’s around.

  As if that wasn’t bad enough, Elliot continuously reminds me that Arthur is right and I have to sit back and watch my friends flirt with her damn near constantly. I meet Grayson’s eyes and do my best not to snarl at him.

  “No, I’m going to kill him because he pulled her away from us and latched onto her immediately like he’s fucking claiming her.”

  Grayson stares at me, and he opens the door that separates the main part of the gym from the sparring ring and training area. There’s a long window that looks out into the rest of the gym. Elliot, Remy, and Adrian are standing near the corner watching Charlotte and Liam through the window when we walk in. There are also a couple of guys in here using punching bags, but otherwise the room is empty except for our group.

  “Guys, someone needs to punch Sebastian in the face,” Grayson calls out nonchalantly.

  Elliot and Adrian immediately laugh. Remy just raises his eyebrows and snorts, “Why? What did he do now?”

  I flip him off and stalk over to the window. Stupid Liam is standing with Charlotte near the weights, and the cocky bastard is holding his arm up and flexing his muscles while she laughs.

  “Just look at him! What an asshole.”

  “Are you for real right now? He’s just showing her around!” Adrian shakes his head and frowns at me disapprovingly. “You guys told me that you all want to be friends with her. That you want her to come here and be a part of your messed up little posse. If you’re just going to turn this into a competition and some fucked up peacock show with this chick, I’m not having it.”

  Grayson catches me off guard by shoving me roughly. “Goddamn it, Sebastian. Charlotte specifically told us she wants to learn to fight. She’s been so excited about coming here ever since we brought it up the other day. Why are you trying to ruin everything?”

  They don’t understand that Charlotte is the girl of my dreams. She’s so sweet and shy, but really funny when she comes out of her shell. She and I have such an obviously strong connection and so much in common with each other. And I know it’s not just me. When the other guys are around, she almost always looks to me first, like she wants my approval or opinion about whatever she has to say.

  But Grayson might be partially right. Charlotte has been excited, and I definitely don’t want to ruin this for her, even if the idea of her fighting or getting hurt makes me feel nauseous. I give him a somewhat apologetic look and shrug. “I’m not. I just don’t like seeing you guys flirt with her. It’s not fair and it pisses me off so much.”

  Elliot grins and shoves me the way Grayson did, though he’s a bit more playful. “You’re such an idiot and a hypocrite. You flirt with her just as much as we do, and she’s never once flirted back with any of us!”

  Adrian crosses his arms and asks Grayson, “So she actually wants to learn to fight and shit, right? She’s not just gonna be prancing around here distracting you guys?”

  Grayson shakes his head. “She’s not like that.”

  Adrian grins and turns around to look out the window again. “Okay, good. And you’re all sure you still want to bet that she’ll be able to get a hit on me?”

  Grayson, Elliot, and Remy say yes, and they glare at me when I stay silent. I brush my hand through my hair and widen my eyes at Adrian pleadingly. “Can you please just promise to go a little easy on her?”

  The guys groan at me simultaneously, but Adrian grins like a jackass. “Not a chance.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Okay, awesome! You good?”

  I nod and smile at Liam, feeling less nervous and much more relaxed than I did when he first started showing me around. He’s so cute and funny, and he was so sweet and informative whenever I asked a question or needed him to explain something. We just finished a few warm-up stretches, and he showed me how to do them properly.

  “Yep! So, now I can meet Adrian and start MMA training, right?”

  Liam’s smile falters and he looks up over my head. “Did any of the other guys warn you about Adrian?”

  He must be worried I’ll judge Adrian for his past too, the same way Sebastian was when we were driving here. I nod and try to put him at ease. “Yeah, Sebastian and Grayson told me a little about his history. But I don’t care about any of that. It sounds like you guys really look up to him.”

  Liam blinks and raises his eyebrows in surprise. “Oh, okay. That’s not really what I meant though.” He shuffles his feet like he’s uncomfortable about something. “Adrian has this stupid rule. He’ll only agree to train you or let you fight in the ring here if you’re able to get at least one hit on him in a sparring match.”

  I widen my eyes for a second before forcing myself to keep my facial expression blank. “Why didn’t you guys tell me that before? Grayson said he used to fight professionally! There’s no way I’ll be able to do that.”

  “Sure you will!” Liam grins confidently, and begins pulling me toward the room he’d pointed out earlier where I know the other boys are waiting.

  The room is larger than I’d imagined. There are a bunch of punching bags hanging in different spots along one wall, a couple of benches along another wall, and most of the floor is covered in mats. In the center of the room, there’s a large platform that looks like a boxing ring to me. I’m only given about a second to take the space in before Remy, Sebastian, Elliot, and Grayson walk over.

  Elliot gives me a wolfish grin and wiggles his eyebrows obnoxiously while he makes a show out of checking me out. “Damn, gorgeous! You look good! I can’t wait to see you get all hot and sweaty.”

  Sebastian turns and punches him in the face. Elliot lurches back and throws his hand up, and he starts laughing hysterically as he lowers his hand to grin at Sebastian with blood streaming out of his nose.

  A huge, muscular guy storms over and roughly grips Sebastian’s arm. He’s only a little taller than Sebastian, but he’s way more muscular and intimidating looking. He angrily shouts, “What the fuck, you little shit! Since you obviously can’t contain yourself, go sit the fuck over there!”

  He gestures to one of the benches, and Sebastian flips him off. But he listens, and he goes to sit down with a pissed off look on his face. The muscular guy turns his gaze on me, looking me over disdainfully. So, this must be Adrian.

  He’s younger than I expected. Maybe in his late twenties, and he has short brown hair, blue eyes, and tattoos covering nearly every inch of his arms and hands all the way down to his knuckles. And his arm muscles are massive. He’s seriously scary looking. How on Earth am I going to be able to fight him!?

  He’s still staring at me in apparent disgust and anger. It’s making m
e feel even more nervous and on edge, so I turn to look at Elliot. I’ve seen the guys wrestle and rough-house, but I’ve never seen any of them act so violently before. I’m surprised to find that I’m actually not that put off or concerned. Elliot’s still pinching the bridge of his nose and has his chin tilted down slightly.

  His smile widens when our eyes meet. “Look, Charlotte, I’m wounded! Are you going to kiss it better now?”

  God, he really is such an idiot. He totally deserved to be punched. I narrow my eyes at him and cross my arms. “I don’t feel bad for you at all.”

  Elliot’s smile doesn’t falter, and Grayson and Liam laugh at my comment. Remy pushes his glasses up on his nose and beams down at me with his dimples on full display. He steps closer to me and gestures at Adrian and introduces us to one another.

  Adrian sighs like he’s annoyed, so I immediately drop my arms to my sides and straighten up. I focus on keeping my face blank while I meet his gaze head on. It seems like it takes forever for him to finally say something.

  “So. You want to learn how to fight?” I nod, too nervous to respond aloud. He rolls his eyes. “You look like you’re barely a hundred pounds soaking wet. Even if you trained every day and worked on building some muscle, it would still take barely any effort for somebody to snap you in half. I just don’t think MMA is realistic for you, kid. But there’s a real nice yoga instructor here I can introduce you to.”

  What the fuck? Did he seriously just somehow insult me and threaten me with yoga? I thought he’d at least give me a chance to try and hit him like Liam said, but it sounds like I’m not going to get that far. The thought makes me sad, but it also pisses me off. I clench my fist and admit something I’ve never actually said to anyone.

  “I like fighting.” My voice comes out too quiet, so I clear my throat before continuing. “I love the rush and the feeling of control I get from it. I’ve never actually started a fight, but I’ve never backed down from one. You’re right, I am small. And I always just sort of wing it. I have no clue what I’m actually doing. So yes, I want to learn.”

  The corner of Adrian’s mouth turns up in the most miniscule smile. It’s gone so quickly that I would have missed it if I’d blinked, but I saw it. Before I can congratulate myself, he glares so ferociously that I almost take a step back.

  “I was trying to be nice before, but you obviously can’t take a hint. I don’t want you here.” He gestures at the guys behind me and glares at me even more harshly. “The five of them have worked really fucking hard the past two years. I don’t need some stupid little girl coming in here, distracting them and causing them to lose all of the progress they’ve made.”

  The guys shout something at Adrian, coming to my defense. But he shoots them a look and they go quiet. I don’t know why Adrian is being so mean to me. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl? Or does he really think I only want to be here to hang out with the guys? I mean, that is a big part of why I want to be here, so I guess I can’t blame him for thinking that. But I can’t let him win this!

  “Liam said you’ll train me as long as I can punch you, just once.” I’m surprised at how confident I sound, because that’s definitely not how I feel.

  Adrian widens his eyes and starts laughing crazy loud. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, kid.”

  “Because I’m a girl?”

  Adrian cocks his head and grins, but he snorts and waves his hand at the platform in the middle of the room. “Alright then. If you can hit me one time, you’re in. If not, then you stick to the treadmill and the fucking yoga classes if you insist on being here.”

  I don’t even take a step before Grayson and Remy are on either side of me. Grayson leans down to whisper in my ear, “I told you he can be an asshole when you first meet him. But you’ve got this, Princess. Make him eat his words and kick his fucking ass.”

  Remy lightly presses one of his hands to my back and hands me a pair of small, black gloves. “Here, these will protect your hands a little.”

  I whisper thank you and slide them on. My hands are shaking the tiniest bit, and I pray the guys haven’t noticed. When we reach the fighting platform thing, Remy holds his hand out to help me up. But I ignore him and get up by myself. I don’t want Adrian to think I need to rely on the guys for anything.

  Adrian is standing in the center of the ring, smiling at me with his arms hanging loosely at his sides. I glance around. Remy, Grayson, Liam, and Elliot are standing right next to the ring and looking up at me. Sebastian has walked over to stand with them too, so I guess he’s not in time out anymore.

  I’m already feeling nervous and embarrassed at having them watch me like this, but when I turn my head to the left, I see two other guys walking over to watch the ‘fight’ too. They were using the punching bags when I first walked in, but I didn’t pay them any mind.

  One of the guys nods his head at Adrian and the other gives me a friendly smile. “Kick Adrian’s ass, girly!”

  I look away from him and focus all of my attention on Adrian. I didn’t realize I would have an audience like this. I’m embarrassed and anxious, and I just know I’m going to make an idiot of myself.

  When I don’t move or say anything right away, Adrian raises his eyebrows and grunts. “Well? What are you waiting for, kid?”

  I take a couple of tentative steps forward, but I can feel my cheeks flaming already. What am I supposed to do? He’s just standing there, not in a stance or anything. I’ve always just reacted in every fight I’ve been in. I’ve never had to hit someone first. Is he trying to trick me?

  I stare into his eyes, and I apprehensively throw a punch at his stomach. Adrian brings his arm up so quickly and swats my hand away like it’s nothing more than an annoying fly. He laughs. “Seriously? That’s the weakest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. Try again.”

  For the next several minutes, I throw punch after punch at Adrian...and miss every time. I’m doing my best, trying to be quick and surprising, but it doesn’t matter. He blocks me every time and shoves me back hard enough that I fall on my ass multiple times. I can still feel the guys’ eyes on me, but I refuse to look at them. I’m so pissed off and mortified right now. I know I’m going to cry the next time I have a moment alone.

  When Adrian blocks yet another hit, he snorts at me scathingly. “Just give up already! This is fucking pathetic. If you’re trying to impress the boys, this is not the way to do it!”

  He’s bent over enough so he can scream in my face. At his stupid comment about the boys, I lose my cool and curl my lip at him angrily. I throw my elbow up towards his jaw and simultaneously throw another punch with my left hand. Adrian still manages to block me, but something flashes in his eyes.

  “That makes you mad, huh? Look at them! They feel bad for you because you’re just a pathetic little girl. You think that having some tragic, fucked up past makes you special?”

  This time when he blocks me, he shoves me more roughly than he had previously and I fall back really fucking hard. As soon as I’m on the ground, his eyes widen and he glances sideways at the boys. I still don’t bother looking at them, but everything seems so glaringly obvious now and all I see is red.

  This is a fucking joke. Somehow, I know the guys and Adrian are messing with me right now. This is some stupid fucking initiation for me to be in their stupid little club. When Adrian looks back at me, I can see pity on his face and I’m even more livid. I stand up and look him over critically. I need to hit him now, and then I’m never fucking coming back here again.

  “Listen, I think you’ve had enough. Why don’t you take a break and then we’ll talk, alright?”

  I glare at him and snarl, “No. I don’t want to talk to you.”

  And then I feint to the right, pulling back my right arm like I’m going to punch him in his side. Adrian is quick, and he crouches to block my attack just like I want him to. I twist my hips and use all of the momentum I have to hit him with a left hook to the side of his face. I know he’s an experienced fighter,
so I don’t expect it to disable him or anything, but he does stagger back the slightest bit, which is all I need. I swipe his feet out from under him and watch with satisfaction as he falls back onto his ass.

  Adrian stares up at me in absolute shock and the boys begin hooting and hollering at me in congratulations. The other two guys from the punching bags are laughing and cheering too, but I’m still so angry that I’m shaking.

  Grayson shouts at Adrian. “Fucking told you she’d kick your ass, bitch! Now you owe us fifty bucks!”

  I should have known they would bet on this. They could have told me what I was walking into. That was the most humiliating experience of my life, and I feel so fucking stupid. To think I called them all my kindred spirits. I hope they all have a nice laugh at my expense!

  I finally face the boys, rip the sparring gloves off my hands, and throw them at Grayson’s face since he’s the one who mentioned the bet. I don’t give him or the other guys a chance to say a word before I jump off the platform and storm out of the training room. I let the door slam behind me with a loud crash.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I’ve only taken a few steps out into the main part of the gym when I realize I have nowhere to go. Sebastian drove me here and my phone is in his bag. Even if I had my phone on me, what would I do? I can’t call Arthur. I don’t want him to know what happened after he was nice enough to pay for my membership here.

  I look around the gym, trying to figure out what to do. There are so many people here. I know nobody’s really looking at me, but it feels like it, and I just want to be alone. I almost turn back around to go into the training room again, but facing the boys now after the fight and walking out the way I did would be even more humiliating.

  There’s a long hallway near the locker rooms that Liam had pointed out earlier, so I make my way over there hoping to find an area that’s a little quieter. A bit further down the hallway, I’m relieved to see there’s a bench next to some water fountains. It looks like there are maybe a few offices back here, but there’s nobody around. So, I sit down, pull my legs up to my chest and rest my forehead against my knees.